Anyway, as I was saying, this ismyfavorite.Myteacherlikedit too,and that mademe evenhappier.Toseehow thecolor wheellooks like,you can clickhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_color

I am alsohappy withthe other images.Wehada funshootwith a lot of80smusic toset themood. Mymodel,Cecilia,and Ichoseto do a80s theme for the images.Muchdancing andhead bangingmade the shoot a lot more fun, and there was a lot of laughterin the studio.Here's the rest of the photos.

We wanted the last picture tobe in brown tones,and the themewasEarth/soil/natural. We even used a fan, to create wind. Haha, how silly. But I think it worked out pretty good. Here is a different version of picture number three, with a more powdery look.

I havealso during these past weeks been working on a special and a bit different project. Itis for a class at schoolcalled'PortfolioDevelopment'. I've had this class before, but with another teacher. This "new" teacher (he is new to me, but he has been working at school for some years) is averytalentedphotographer,and I look forwardto learningmorefrom him.This particular projectis our personalproject.The firstday wehad class with this teacher, we gothalf an hourto decidewhatwewoulddo as a personal project.Wedidnot get atheme, description or any limitationsor guidelines at all.We could choose whatever we wanted to do, and that was quitescaryto be honest, butalsoexciting.Ido not know exactlywhatIwas thinking about or how I was thinking,but somehow I choseto be inspiredby art - tobe moreprecise,the art ofManet. Iwanted torecreate thefeeling andlooks of the peopleManetpaintedin his pictures.

If you have no clue on who this Manet guy is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard_Manet

Weall had totelleach other whatwehad chosen as our personal project. Whenit wasmy turn, I wasreally quiteproud totell everyone aboutmytheme. Butmy teacherchanged that fast. He saidthat itwould bedifficult toachieve, and thenhe asked ifIwas sure about my decision. AndI repliedthat Iwas sure.Butinthat momentI feltthat Ihadmade ​​a fool ofmyself.Couldit reallybe that hard?Hesaid thatthe Impressionists,likeManet, createdlightin their paintingsin a very specialway- andI had totaketake into account. Wow! How onearth wouldI make that happen? I'm so new on this whole light thing. Alright, nowthere's no turningback. I have to make it happen!

A week ago, I had ashootwith twogirls inan apartmentwith bigwindows,afternoon sunandoldfurniture.It was verynice toget outof the studio,and to goto alocationinstead.Ihada littletroublewith the lampsthatI was gonna use.Firstly, I couldnotuse thetwo lampsIhad bookedfor theshoot.They weredestroyed.InsteadI had to useone lampwith an umbrellaandmysb900flash.Secondly, I didn't havea cableto connectwith the unitso thatit couldusethe electricityin the house.Ihad to usebatteries.Therewere twoof them,but theygotdischargedveryquickly.So atthe end of the shoot,I usedonlymyflash.The planwas touse multiplelight sources,in order toregulate theforce relativeto the amount ofdaylightcomingin (as long as wehaddaylight.Itwasdarkafter a while).Buteven thoughit didn't go according to the plan, I wasverypleased withthe shoot. And I was fortunate enough to have my father-in-law with me that day. Icould not havedone itwithout him.

Herearethe pictures.

Theseare thepictures Ihavebeenchosen andediteduntil now.Ihavenotreceived anyfeedbackfrommy teacher,becausehehad to cancel the class wewere suppose to havelast week.Hopehe likesthem.I amsatisfiedwith the result.I alsolearnedverymuch from this experience,like allthe preparations for the shoot, the shoot itselfand the postproduction. For instance I haveused neweditingmethods thatIhave notknown aboutbefore. So that was cool.

I've also been printinga lotthe last few days,so I could have printed images inmy newportfolio. I had to buy an old-fashioned portfolio, a real one. From now on, it is not enough with showing my photos on a screen. Everyweek or soI have toprintout the photos that Ithinkworks well, and keep on building it. The problemis that Ido notreally knowwhatgenreI shouldfocuson. For the time being the portfolio hasno flow.Thereisa little ofthis anda little ofthat. Ipersonally feel that it doesn't representme.Ido not knowwhatIwantas a photographer.So thatissomething Ihave to workon.Iplan toexperiment morewith advertisingand commercial.Maybethat's whatI shouldpursue. I really don't know. I am confused. My portfolio teacher thinks I should focus on conceptual photography. Maybe... Andas ifthis postis not long enough, I totally forgot about my phobia/nightmare photos. A few weeksago, I had atask thatwas aboutdreams.It couldbe pictures of gooddreams, baddreams,fantasies,fears orphobias. Hereare mypictures.

Iwasnotsatisfiedwiththe first picture,butthe second one was better in my opinion. I got good feedback for that one. Iwillnotgo into detail aboutmydreams,fantasies,fears orphobias,butI guess it's prettyobviouswhatIdo not like. This wasone of the hardesttasks I've everhad,and Ithink itwastough togetthetwo images.Butitis averyexcitingtopic,and Iwill definitelyworkmore withitlaterinmy spare time (whenever that will happen).

mandag 3. oktober 2011

Last weekwe learnedaboutshapes and forms that you can use in an image.The expressionof the imagechanges when you use a certain form, shape, pattern etc.Thereismuch youcan use inan image. Diagonal, vertical, horizontal, and curved lines can create different moods. A trianglepointingup, hasa moreharmoniousexpression, thana trianglepointingdownward.At the same timecircularcompositiongives a senseofharmony and an intact emotion.The circleisa universalsymbolfor unity.

Thereare many symbolsand elementsusedinphotography.I will notgo any furtherinto all of these,but however,if you areinterested, there is a book by DavidPräkel called "BasicPhotography:Composition." It's a simple but great book to have, if you want to take pictures.

So hereare some of mypictures.

I got really good feedback for the last picture from my teacher. Webothagreed thatshelooked likea mermaid,and thatthesilhouetteof the bodyworked out pretty good and thatthe handslooked very nice. I was supposed tohavesubmittedallthe images inblackand white (I didn't know this). I'mveryfond ofcolors, and that's why I haven't changed them.

OftenI findit difficult to cropofthe image whenediting.I've told you earlier that I'm a suckerfor theRule of Thirds, but sometimes it just doesn't work. It's not always easy to say what is correct and what is wrong. You just gotta trust your guts... or eyes, or whatever.

søndag 2. oktober 2011

Much hashappenedin mylifesince I blogged the last time. It's been two weeks! Without going toomuch intodetails, I cantell you thatIhavealso been sick for a while now.ButI'm onthe road to recovery.TodayI madebreakfast for myself forthe first timein a long time.AndIfeltinspired again! Icannottell youenoughhow much Ireallylovephotography.Isodo!Ahh,and itbreaksmy heartwhen I thinkof the possibilityofnot being able todoit anymore.

So, letme showyou whatIhavedone since thelast time.Itis a great deal.Again, I have hadsomeboringtaskswhere Ihave had toshowthe difference betweenusing a flashindoors and outdoors, with differentobjectives- andto measurethe temperature ofthe light andsee the differencebetweenthe differenttemperatures, etc., etc.Such tasksare not aboutthe picture itselfanddo not communicate much,butwe have to do them because it ispractical, and we learn a lot. They are only test shots, so I'm not gonna showthemto you. However, I'll show you some silhouettes.

It's alwaysfun totry somethingnew,and Icantell you thatIhavenevermade​​silhouettesbefore.Itwas a littledifficult at first, to be honest.Wehad a lot offun onthisshoot, especiallywith all theposing that was required. Ithad tobe a bit dramaticalso it wouldlookinteresting.Andwewere allverycreativewhenwe were finding newwaysto pose. It was a good day.

I was goingto putupmorepictures,butit looks likethe serverfailed to handle more than threesilhouettes. Sorry folks! Moving on to the next thing.

I had to make a sequenceas well thesameweek. We had the chance tochoosewhatever we wanted,and many people in my class chose totake a pictures oftheir foodas itbecomesless andless ontheplate.Ichose tofocuson facialexpressions andtook picturesofSophia.She was getting tired for sure.A picturespeaksa thousand words, right?

Igot goodfeedbackfor the sequence.Myteachersaidthat althoughheusuallyhatesthecolor I've usedin the pictures,he likes itin this setting.I don't usually usethis greenish-sepia-color,but Iwanted to achieve an old film vibe also because of the way the imagesareputtogether.Instead ofhavingitin blackand white.Whatdo you think?Do you also hatethe coloras muchas myteacher andme?Helikedthe fact thatshe lookedlike an adult.Almostlike a littleperson who is nervous before a giving a speech.

The next thing wehad todo wasto reada text byPaulGraham, called "Photographyis soeasy.........". If you want, you can read it here: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/07/theory-paul-graham-photography-is-easy.html

Ihavenotlearned toscanthe negativesyet,so theseimages have beenphotographed with my digital camera butnotmanipulated.That's the beauty ofanalogimages.They areasthey are.No changes, and no possibility of deleting if you are not happy with the result. The film thatI've used for the color images is the KodakPortra 160. It gives a finer grain structure and a natural skin tone reproduction. You can read more about it here http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/portra/160main.jhtml

For the black and white, I've used Ilford Delta 100. This is a very expensive film if you want a lab to develope your negatives and also make the copies. You can read more about it here: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/product.asp?n=8

I'll try to put up more analog shots when I'll have the time. The camera that I use, is a Minolta XE-7, with a 50mm f1,7.

Here is a picture of me with the camera.

So now you know how my Minolta looks like, and how my Minolta and I look like together!

That's all for now, folks! Maybe I'll write a new post very soon. Next time I'll be talking about phobias, dreams and shapes. Stay tuned!

PS: I need models every week. Please contact me if you live in Oslo, or if you can come to Oslo for a photoshoot. I don't ask for a perfect body or a flawless face, and you don't need experience with modeling. We'll figure it out! My e-mail is monica_tormassy@yahoo.no. You can also find me on facebook: Monica Tormássy, or on Twitter. Thanks!

About

http://twitter.com/MonicaTormassy
I am a 25 year old girl, currently living in Oslo. Photography and art is my passion. I try to put my personal stamp on the photos I take. Every picture taken with my camera - is later processed in a solemn manner. Each image is unique, just like every moment is unique.